This invention relates to the technical field of an image reproducing apparatus in which image data obtained from an image data supply source such as a scanner used for photoelectric reading of an image on a film is subjected to image processing steps to reproduce the image on a display or hard copy, that is, to output the image to be reproduced to a plurality of image output devices.
Currently, the image recorded on a photographic film such as a negative film or a reversal film (which is hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cfilmxe2x80x9d) is printed to a light-sensitive material (photographic paper) by xe2x80x9cdirect exposurexe2x80x9d (or analog exposure), in which the image on a film is projected onto the light-sensitive material to perform areal exposure.
A printer that relies upon digital exposure has recently been commercialized. Called a xe2x80x9cdigital photoprinterxe2x80x9d, the apparatus operates in the following manner: the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically; the image is then converted to a digital signal and subjected to various image processing steps to produce image data for recording; a light-sensitive material is exposed by scanning with recording light modulated in accordance with the image data, whereby an image (latent image) is recorded; the necessary processing is done to produce a (finished) print.
In the digital photoprinter, the image recorded on a film is converted to digital image data, which is then processed to determine the conditions for exposure to be performed in printing; hence, the correction of drop-outs or blocked-ups in image such as washed-out highlights or dull shadows due to photography with back light or an electronic flash, sharpening, or the correction of color or density failure can be effectively performed to produce prints of very high quality that have heretofore been unattainable by conventional direct exposure. What is more, by image data processing, a plurality of images can be assembled into one composite image or a single image can be divided into more than one image and even characters can be assembled; thus, prints can be outputted after editing/processing is done in accordance with a specific use.
With the digital photoprinter, the desired image can not only be outputted as a finished print (photo); the image data can also be supplied to a computer or stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk; thus, the image data can be utilized in various applications other than photography.
Having these capabilities, the digital photoprinter basically comprises a scanner (image reading device) for photoelectric reading of the image recorded on a film, an image processing device that performs image processing on the thus read image to produce output image data (conditions for exposure), and a printer that performs scan exposure on a light-sensitive material in accordance with the image data from the image processing device to form a latent image and that subjects the exposed light-sensitive material to development and other necessary steps to produce a finished print.
In the scanner, reading light issuing from a light source is allowed to be incident on the film to produce projected light carrying the image recorded on the film and the projected light is focused through an imaging lens on an image sensor such as a CCD sensor, whereby photoelectric conversion is effected to read the image from the film; after optionally being subjected to various image processing steps, image data from the film (image data signal) is sent to the image processing device.
The image processing device sets the conditions for image processing on the basis of the image data that has been read with the scanner; the device then performs image processing on the image data in accordance with the thus set conditions and supplies the printer with output image data (exposure conditions) for image recording.
In the printer, if it is of a type that relies upon exposure by scanning with light beams, the latter are modulated in accordance with the image data sent from the image processing device and deflected in a main scanning direction; at the same time, a light-sensitive material is transported in an auxiliary scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction to expose to the light beams carrying the image, thereby forming a latent image. The image is then subjected in the processor to development and other processing steps in accordance with the light-sensitive material, thereby producing a finished print (photograph) reproducing the image recorded on the film.
Not only the aforementioned digital photoprinter, but also image reproducing apparatuses to output image data delivered from an image data supply source as a finished print (or hard copy) perform verification of an image to be reproduced on the finished print. Therefore, these apparatuses are usually provided for example with a display such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) to represent the reproduced image of the image data supplied from the image data supply source such as a scanner. It is needless to say that, for appropriate image verification, the reproduced image to be represented on the display (display image) must be also subjected to the same image processing as in the image to be reproduced on the finished print (print image).
In order to satisfy the requirement, the image processing device has two independent hardware units: a hardware (H/W) for image processing of the image data to be represented on the display, and a hardware for image processing of the image data to be output as a hard copy with the printer. This arrangement increases equipment cost of the image processing device. What is more, there is a case where the image represented on the display is different from the image reproduced on the hard copy in spite of the same image processing performed.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object providing an image reproducing apparatus in which image data supplied from an image data supply source including a scanner, various recording media and imaging devices is subjected to specified image processing steps to represent on a display as a visible image and output with a printer as a hard copy, that is, to output to a plurality of image output devices and which can reduce the distinction between the image to be represented on the display and the image to be reproduced on the hard copy, or between the images to be reproduced in the image output devices, with reduced equipment cost of the image processing device.
In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides an image reproducing apparatus to reproduce input image data supplied from an image data supply source as a visible image, comprising:
a display to represent an image;
a printer to output a hard copy having the image recorded thereon; and
an image processing device which shares hardware for processing the input image data to obtain image data to be represented on said display and image data for image recording with said printer and which includes:
an image processing section to subject the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to specified image processing steps to produce processed image data, and
a data converting section to convert the processed image data output from said image processing section to the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer.
Preferably, said image processing device subjects the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to the same image processing steps, except that different conversion parameters of the processed image data are used in said data converting section in representing the image on said display and in outputting the hard copy with said printer.
Preferably, said conversion parameters are elements of a 3D-LUT or a 3D-MTX to convert said processed image data.
Preferably, the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer have different resolutions between the image to be represented on said display and the image to be reproduced on said hard copy, and said data converting section performs at least one conversion processing of thinning-out, electronic magnification and interpolation to convert said processed image data to obtain the resolutions suitable for each of the image data to be represented on said display and the image data for image recording with said printer.
Preferably, said conversion parameters are elements of a 3D-LUT or a 3D-MTX to perform said conversion processing.
Preferably, said specified image processing steps to be performed by said image processing section include at least one of color balance adjustment, gradation adjustment, density adjustment, dodging, saturation correction, sharpening, electronic magnification, soft focusing, sepia finishing, black-and-white finishing, high-contrast finishing, low-contrast finishing, posterized finishing, picture-like finishing, extraction of a principal portion (or subject) and red eye treatment.
According to the present invention, there is also provided an image reproducing apparatus to reproduce input image data supplied from an image data supply source as a visible image, comprising:
a plurality of output devices to output an image; and
an image processing device which shares hardware for processing processed image data to obtain image data suitable for output properties of each of said plurality of output devices and which includes:
an image processing section to subject the input image data supplied from said image data supply source to specified image processing steps to produce the processed image data, and
a data converting section to convert the processed image data output from said image processing section to the image data suitable for the output properties of each of said plurality of output devices.